Ten out of Ten for the big Five-Oh Pearl Jam, Manchester Arena, June 21st 2012

My better half treated me to a trip to Manchester to see Pearl Jam for my fiftieth birthday, but not so sure clambering to seats way up in The Gods was a fine way to treat the birthday boy… I thought the upper balcony of the famous but long-gone Glasgow Apollo was high and steep, but this was nose bleed altitude. Great view and great leg room though and, unlike the old Apollo, these seats didn't bounce up and down! Pearl Jam are a no frills no special effects band (the only enhancements being two large HD screens showing the images in black and white) and they received a tumultuous reception as they strolled on to the low stage. The band cranked it up to 11 straight away with the opener ‘Go,’ a typical, grungy guitar-based song, but unfortunately someone had forgotten to tell the sound man to get the levels right. Stone Gossard and Mike McReady’s guitars were just an audio blur, but thankfully Eddie Vedder’s vocals were his usual, rasping best.

The grungy guitars of ‘Animal Health’ and ‘Hail Hail’ followed before some nice, slow guitar work (which you could hear clearly) featured on ‘I Am Mine.’ This was a bit more like it and Vedder’s searing vocals filled the huge auditorium. Personally I think Pearl Jam shine on material like this.

Vedder then took a short breath to say a quick hello before the band got back to the music. Pearl Jam are most certainly not one of those bands that thanks God every two seconds, say how great the audience is or “so much better than last night!” etc. They just get on with doing what they do best, powered by the rhythm section of Jeff Ament on bass and drummer Matt Cameron.

’Wishlist’ is a beautiful song, highlighting Eddie Vedder’s writing and vocal talents. ’Even Flow’ got the mosh pit going, while the 15,000 strong choir sang every word. Hairs standing on the back of the neck moment.‘Lukin,’ ‘Not For You’ and ‘Down’ were jaunty, slower rock numbers and Vedder’s voice was just amazing. I can’t emphasize enough just how good the front man’s vocals were. ‘Amongst the Waves’ was an absolute standout, then it was on to old favourite ‘Daughter’ and an opportunity for another sing-a-long.For the first few minutes of ‘Daughter’ it was just Eddie Vedder and the audience singing every word and he seemed visibly moved by the reaction of the crowd.

‘Deep,’ from their multi-million selling album 10 got, fittingly, a ten out of ten before ‘Present Tense’ slowed things down once more. ‘Once’ had the mosh pit bouncing again, spoiled only by the fact the sound man had gone back to sleep. But ‘Save You,’ another rocker, guaranteed the bouncing continued. ‘Better Man,’ a personal favourite, had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up again courtesy of the crowd singing on their own before the band kicked in, concluded and then took their bows. The encore produced five more songs. ’Inside Job’ was the first of the quintet, followed by ‘Off He Goes’ which featured more amazing vocals and piano. The sound was a lot better, but it always is when the band takes it down a bit or are performing their acoustic-based numbers.

’Just Breathe’ was up next before ‘Hitch-hiker’ got its first ever live airing, which had everyone excited. ’Rear View Mirror’ closed out the encore before the band once again thanked everyone and left the stage. And that, we thought, was that. 15,000 punters, all happy smiley faces, cheering, clapping and time to go home. Except the band came back on for another encore. And another five songs. Strap yourselves in, here we go again. ‘Wasted Reprise,’ all slow guitars and keyboards, started things slow but ‘Life Wasted’ certainly woke us all up. ‘Alive,’ a Pearl Jam classic and fan-favourite, brought on the 15,000 strong choir again before we were treated to the band's cover of the Dead Boys punky grunge number ‘Sonic Reducer.’

The show ended with the band’s traditional set closer ‘Yellow Ledbetter,’ wrapping up two and a half hours of non-stop rock, grunge and intimate acoustic sing-a-long.Twenty-six songs covering every Pearl Jam album and some B-sides and rarities.And with Pearl Jam you never know quite what you are going to get, proven by the fact the previous night’s Manchester show featured a completely different set-list. Only four songs were performed at both gigs. Variety and value. Pearl Jam might have been around for twenty-plus years, but they have lost none of their enthusiasm. Although Eddie Vedder doesn’t climb the lighting rig anymore, more content to hold on to his cigarettes (clearly the No Smoking policy doesn’t apply to some people) and a bottle of red. Let’s hope these boys are around for another twenty-plus years and long live the red wine God Eddie Vedder.